To think my DH should be given a face to face appointment?

[Washimal]

DH is 37, not overweight, doesn't smoke and doesn't drink much. He's never had any major health issues and until recently was very rarely ill.

Since around June or July, he's had these episodes of feeling lightheaded. He describes it as feeling like everything is moving everytime he moves his head. After a few hours the lightheadedness will be accompanied by nausea, but no vomiting. This lasts for 2-3 days and on the last day he also has diarrhoea. It's relatively short lived but really unpleasant for him and he's pretty much incapacitated for those 2-3 days.

This has happened 4 times now. On the first occasion he assumed it was just a weird bug and did nothing. The second time it happened he called the GP and she asked him "what do you think could be causing it?" So she was clearly stumped. She didn't want to see him but prescribed an anti-emetic tablet that he says helped a little but not much, and told him to rest. The third time he called the GP again and they still didn't want to see him, just asked if he'd still got the tablets and said to keep taking them. That was a few weeks ago. Now, it's happening again. He was lightheaded yesterday all day but tried to carry on as normal (working from home) and today he's laid up in bed feeling very sick and light-headed again.

DH says there's no point calling the Doctor because they won't do anything. I think he needs to call them and be a bit more assertive this time (in a polite way, I'm not suggesting he demand anything or be rude) in asking for a proper face to face appointment and some investigations. Surely they should at least be checking his blood pressure and taking some blood or something?

I appreciate that they don't want lots of people coming into the surgery because of covid but i'm starting to worry there might be something seriously wrong

BPPV?

dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/bppv/bppv.html

Or the diarrhoea made me think possibly migraine?

It could be migraines, but that's a fair few big episodes in a fairly short amount of time for someone who hasn't experienced them before.

He really does need to be seen. It could be a number of things and while it's likely nothing bad, it needs to be ruled out.

Hi, please call your GP and ask for someone to look into his ears or they can refer him to the local hospital walk in ENT emergency clinic. These clinics are planned and needs GP referral but usually you would see an ENT dr in 2-3 weeks .

@DumplingsAndStew

BPPV?

dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/bppv/bppv.html

Or the diarrhoea made me think possibly migraine?

I've recently been diagnosed with this, with similar symptoms. My GP thought Ménière's disease, I was referred to ENT, who diagnosed BPPV because the consultant could force the feeling by tipping me backwards quickly. The symptoms you describe, having 'bouts' lasting a few days, sound like menieres.

I've been diagnosed over the last year, it's possible to see GPs and get referrals to ENT during lockdown. The symptoms can be very scary, and disorientating, especially if you don't know the cause. I'd push for a face to face visit or a referral.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ménière%27s_disease

@Kolo - that's really interesting. My GP diagnosed me with BPPV a few years back. He tried to do the Epley manoeuvre with me a couple of times in the surgery, but it was unsuccessful. My symptoms tend to 'flare up', lasting a few days at a time, before disappearing again. A referral to ENT has never been suggested.

The recurrent but finite nature of these episodes makes me think of vestibular migraines.

Does anything on this infographic ring any bells?

[quote DumplingsAndStew]@Kolo - that's really interesting. My GP diagnosed me with BPPV a few years back. He tried to do the Epley manoeuvre with me a couple of times in the surgery, but it was unsuccessful. My symptoms tend to 'flare up', lasting a few days at a time, before disappearing again. A referral to ENT has never been suggested.[/quote]
I'd go and ask for ent referral! At ent I have had a hearing test, seen the consultant twice and was supposed to have an MRI scan (but I was now in lockdown and I freaked out and couldn't have sedative as had to go to hospital unaccompanied so not actually had it yet).

Mine is definitely brought on by certain movements, and I pretty much have it all the time. Sometimes it's worse and I can have it while standing up (so I feel like falling). Although similar to menieres, I was certain mine wasn't menieres as reading the symptoms it didn't feel exactly right.

To answer some questions, the diarrhoea has happened each time. It's not like he's constantly running back and forth to the toilet though, it's quite mild and definitely less troublesome than the other symptoms.

Yes, he has been very honest with the GP about how debilitating the symptoms are when he gets them. I was there when he spoke to them the last time. He does have a tendency to minimise things when it comes to health but he's not doing that with this, which tells me he really does feel awful when it's happening.

The tablets he's been given are stemetil. He doesn't feel they help much, in fact he said earlier he thinks they might be making him feel worse so he hasn't taken any today. He does seem better today, although still tired and not completely himself.

Thinking about it now, he had this weird thing a few months ago where his eye wouldn't stop twitching. It went away on it's own and hasn't re-occurred but I'm wondering if that could be related? I'm probably overthinking now. He spends all day in front of a computer for work and at the time we put it down to that. He's been trying to take regular screen breaks since then.

I've looked up Menieres disease and it could be that but everything I've read suggests attacks normally last 2-3 hours, not 2-3 days so I'm not sure. I think I need to step away from Google to be honest as I'm just going to end up frightening myself.

Thank you for all your comments, suggestions and for being so kind.